REV TOUR - BOREAL, CA - Slopestyle

The team is getting ready for the day with a bit of breakfast and packing. We will be headed to the slopestyle competition shortly after. The riders meeting went painfully slow last night, but the good news is that Chris got in. So it will be Chris and Eddie on course while Max rests his little "wingy".

Chris waits for his first run during a snow delay

The event should have been called Boreal Hopestyle. California decided to have some unwanted snow during the day which caused numerous delays. At one point the pull start was even moved to the top of the halfpipe and riders had to start their runs down the deck to get enough speed to make it to the first jump on course. Chris got his two runs in because he was in the first heat. Ed was in the second heat which had even more issues with snowfall. The riders could not get enough speed and the judges had very poor visibility on the course. The officials ended up canceling the entire slopestyle competition because of the unfair advantage that early riders had on the latter group. So in the end, the team hopped in the rental car, drove to the Circus Circus parking garage, changed, packed and got ready for the red eye flight home. The team did however have enough time to play in the kiddie arcade and win enough candy to supply next years local Halloween trick or treater's. We were scheduled to leave at 7:45 pm but ended up with another type of delay, flight delay. Which meant we would have a huge rush to deal with when we arrived at LAX to make our connecting flight. We made it with only minutes to spare! Once in New York JFK we encountered another flight delay. We finally arrived in Albany after 11 am, but with a hitch, our luggage went to Atlanta. So we waited an hour till it arrived in Albany and then we were finally on the last leg home to KMS, arrival time 3 pm. The team will be taking a direct flight back from Portland to Boston when it returns from the third Revolution Tour stop in Oregon on February 23rd.

Chris during a practice run
Snowed out
Changing at Circus Circus
Trick or Treat

Training Day

Last training run of the day

Thursday felt a lot like New England again. A bit on the chilly side and no sunshine. Chris made the best of it and spent the day training on the slopestyle course, even though he is still on the waiting list to compete. We will find out later today if he gets in at the riders meeting. The team will have a busy go of it tomorrow since we go straight to the Reno Airport after the slopestyle competition to our late night journey home. We should be arriving around 2 pm KMS time on Saturday. The team will not have much of a break however since they will be competiting in a USASA halfpipe event at Killington on Sunday.

REV TOUR - BOREAL, CA - Boardercross

The team viewing the earlier riders on course

Boardercross is in the books. The team started the day with breakfast at the hotel, followed by course inspection at 8 AM. The snow conditions were similar to firm east coast groomers until the sun started to hit the course later in the morning. Practice runs went well and everybody survived their Time Trial runs. The team faced some stiff competition with riders from the US and New Zealand/Australian teams in the field. Max had the fastest of the KMS crew but unfortunately missed the time cut by roughly a second. In the afternoon the team trained on the slopestyle course. After a brief stop at the hotel we drove to Incline Village, NV and were given a tour of Sierra Nevada College by fellow Vermonter and now SNCST rider Devon Crowther. After the tour, we drove up Reno for a little Outback Steakhouse and a movie. Tomorrow the team will be back out to Boreal to train more slopestyle for Fridays slope competition.

Max at the top of the boardercross course

Ed going over the table top

Chris ripping around the bank turn before the hip

Time Trial results

Devon, Eddie, Max & Chris in the Prim Library

Reno... makes you miss VT

Happy belly's

BOREAL - DAY 1

Wow... it takes a while to get from here to there sometimes. The team left KMS yesterday morning at 7 AM, and 3 flights later arrived at the hotel in Truckee at 9 PM. It was lucky today was a training day for boardercross with slow moving bodies this morning . The drive to the resort takes about 15 minutes and it is right off the highway. Boreal is the west coast version of New Hampshires Whaleback. It may not be the biggest resort in Tahoe but the venue is set up perfectly for this Revolution Tour stop. The main chair takes you over the slopestyle course and halfpipe, with the boadercross just off to the side. After a long wait in registration, the boys finally got their bibs and tour t-shirts and headed for practice. The course is not to technical as compared to the Copper installment, but it still has a couple of tricky spots, including a hip that I predict will have a few sleds making some visits to. Everyone had plenty of practice time in the course and left the mountain upbeat and ready for tomorrow. The team will be attending a riders meeting tonight and will be ready to go for their time trial tomorrow, starting with course inspection at 8 AM. On another note, congratulations go out to Eddie. He received a call from his dad today saying he got into Weber State... Ya Eddie! The team also plans to do a tour of Sierra Nevada College if time permits.

MAX & CHRIS shrED

The team headed straight to Bear for the morning training session today. The pipe was freshly cut and the Dream Maker park felt pillowy soft. Eddie was feeling a bit under the weather, so it was just Max and Chris taking advantage of the good conditions. Chris worked on his Cab spins and Max continued to figure out how to ride with one arm. The team is laying low this weekend since the Central Vermont USASA series has a break in its competition schedule. The team leaves for California to compete in the USSA Revolution Tour at Boreal Resort on Monday.

Max on the bonk tank

Max Shifty 2000

Chris airing out of the pipe

Chris airing out of the pipe 2

MAX IS BACK!

Monday Tuesday Wednesday

Eddie on the 2nd jump in the Dream Maker park

Chris hitting the top features in the DM park

Eddie's nose grab

Coach G-Wood shredding the gnar

The team has been a bit scattered over the past few days. Max has been on the mend since last week, while Chris has been busy with some state regional exams in Whitehall, NY. On Monday Chris and Eddie tested out the new video camera on a bluebird day in the Dream Maker Park. Ed was working on a few straight air's while Chris was perfecting his switch riding, Cab's and stock 3's and 5's. Tuesday, Coach Greenwood of the J1J2 Alpine staff, grabbed a snowboard for the first time ever and joined Eddie for some riding 101. After an hour and a half of success, Coach Greenwood chalked up trails such as Mouse Trap, Skyburst, Dream Maker, Skylark, and Bittersweet. I think Coach G-Wood has even greater plans for the "Cross Coaching" model. Today it was the Ed Enriquez show. With the snow storm and high winds, Ed braved the mountain and seeked out some "photo ops."


ED

"Ed"streme

Mellon